Day 131: Clear nights

After a deluge the night before it was a real treat for normal service to resume this evening. The night was cooler than when we arrived but we still found it comfortable to lie on the dock and stare up at the myriad stars above us. The sky looked dark from north to south, and I couldn't resist some long exposure photos to try and capture the Milky Way. To my surprise, the photo taken looking south towards Sagittarius showed clear signs of light pollution. I'm not sure I know where it was coming from, but it was bright enough to show up reflected in the lake. I took a shot to the north just to convince myself that this wasn't some bizarre aurora and sure enough its horizon was dark. That said, it was wonderful to take a picture and see the Milky Way so clearly. Just wonderful.

Southern skies at Klein Lake

Technical info: ISO 3200, 30 sec at f/4.5. Default JPG processing in-camera. A smidgeon of noise reduction and sharpening in post-processing.